Cross-Stratum Optimization Protocol

1. A computer implemented method comprising: sending a resource query from a service stratum gateway with a hardware processor to a transport stratum gateway via a cross-stratum optimization (CSO) interface using a cross-stratum optimization protocol (CSOP) between the service stratum gateway and the transport stratum gateway to enable the different functionalities of the application cross-stratum gateway (ACG) and network CSO gateway (NCG) for related communications, including signaling, messaging, and information exchange, wherein the service stratum gateway collectively handles communications from a plurality of servers managing applications in a service stratum and the transport stratum gateway collectively handles CSOP communications from a plurality of network nodes managing a transport network wherein the CSOP communications include CSO messages that comprise path estimation, path reservation, network topology or virtual machine topology query; exchanging status data for monitoring, controlling, and managing the transport network across the cross-stratum optimization (CSO) interface for provisioning application, network congestion, failure information utilizing at least bandwidth profile object used to specify the required bandwidth for a path and comprises a transport layer field, a plurality of flags, an asymmetric bandwidth indicator bit, a reserved field, a downstream of bi-directional bandwidth field, and an upstream bandwidth field; and transmitting a reservation request from the service stratum gateway to the transport stratum gateway via the cross-stratum optimization (CSO) interface to reserve a guaranteed bandwidth across the transport network, the service stratum gateway and the transport stratum gateway being at least partially implemented in hardware, the reservation request including a path object having a type length value (TLV) field, the TLV field carrying a path identifier identifying a path to be reserved.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resource query comprises a source, a destination, a bandwidth, a maximum latency, and a maximum jitter.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reservation request comprises a service profile indicating a quality of service (QoS) an application requires of the transport network.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a Keep Alive message at the service stratum gateway from the transport stratum gateway.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reservation request is sent to setup a new path in a transport stratum or modify an existing path in the transport stratum.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the resource query is sent to get a status of resources in the transport stratum to perform a cross stratum optimization calculation.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising receiving a response message at the service stratum gateway from the transport stratum gateway in response to the resource query, the response message comprising a status of resources in the transport stratum.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reservation request comprises a service profile object generated in the service stratum and indicating data related to the request.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reservation request comprises an object indicating a requested bandwidth.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reservation request comprises an object indicating a bi-directional path constraint.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reservation request comprises an object indicating a unidirectional path constraint.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reservation request comprises an object indicating a request for a 1+1 protection across a transport stratum.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reservation request further comprises performance constraint object indicating constraints for the reservation request.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the performance constraint object indicates a jitter bound for the request.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the performance constraint object indicates a latency delay bound.

16. A service stratum gateway comprising: a transmitter configured to send a resource query to a transport stratum gateway via a cross-stratum optimization (CSO) interface using a cross-stratum optimization protocol (CSOP) between the service stratum gateway and the transport stratum gateway, wherein the service stratum gateway collectively handles communications from a plurality of servers managing applications in a service stratum and the transport stratum gateway collectively handles CSOP communications from a plurality of network nodes managing a transport network, wherein the CSOP communications involving CSO messages that comprise path estimation, path reservation, network topology or virtual machine topology query; a receiver configured to receive status data for monitoring, controlling, and managing the transport network across the cross-stratum optimization (CSO) interface for provisioning application, network congestion, failure information utilizing at least bandwidth profile object used to specify the required bandwidth for a path and comprises a transport layer field, a plurality of flags, an asymmetric bandwidth indicator bit, a reserved field, a downstream of bi-directional bandwidth field, and an upstream bandwidth field; and a hardware processor coupled to the transmitter and receiver and configured to cause the transmitter to transmit a reservation request to the transport stratum gateway via the cross-stratum optimization (CSO) interface to reserve a guaranteed bandwidth across the transport network, the reservation request including a path object having a type length value (TLV) field, the TLV field carrying a path identifier, identifying a path to be reserved in the transport network.

17. The service stratum gateway of claim 16 , wherein the reservation request is sent to setup a new path in a transport stratum or modify an existing path in the transport stratum.

18. The service stratum gateway of claim 16 , wherein the resource query is sent to get a status of resources in a transport stratum to perform a cross stratum optimization calculation.

19. The service stratum gateway of claim 16 , wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a response message from the transport stratum gateway via the interface in response to the resource query, the response message comprising a status of resources in a transport stratum.

20. The service stratum gateway of claim 16 , wherein the resource query comprises a source, a destination, a bandwidth, a maximum latency, and a maximum jitter.